The Truth Is Rarely Pretty
by SparkbyIrreplaceableSpark
Summary: Claudia must go undercover as a stripper to retrieve an artifact. Unfortunately, she knows the way all too well. She never thought she'd be pulled into the depths of her past life again, but this artifact threatens to reveal what she'd rather keep hidden.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi All! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Warehouse 13 or any of these characters. Just the individual story lines.**

**Please review, enjoy, and don't forget to check out my other story: Serendipity, which is also about Claudia! s/8527203/1/Serendipity**

-SLAM-

The door shuts into Claudia and Steve's faces as they are thrown violently out of the club and onto the dirty streets of New York.

As Steve extends a hand to help Claudia off the ground, he looks back frustrated at the glaring club.

"Well, what now, Claude?"

"Call Artie," Claudia suggests, dusting the snow off her jacket, "That was our last idea to get in."

* * *

" – why WE USE _CREATIVE SNAGGING_." Arties harsh baritone voice thunders out of the Farnsworth.

"Now, Pete and Myka are using my artifacts to break into the museum on their case but I expected the pair of you to NOT ACT LIKE IDIOTS. Find a way to get in there and retrieve the artifact, even if it kills you!"

Steve closed the Farnsworth and looked at his partner.

"Thanks for nothing, Artie. What are we going to do, Claude? People keep dying and they definitely won't let us in now."

Claudia adjusts her shoulder pack and looks up the world famous strip club in front of her that was emanating all sorts of loud music and neon light. Steve just about registers a strange look that flash in her eyes.

"Let's head back to the hotel, Jinksy, we'll think of something tonight."

Back in the hotel laden by piles of takeout Thai food, the two agents seemed dejected and out of ideas.

"Okay." Claudia says brandishing a chopstick to get Steve's attention, " Here's what we know. Somehow, Somewhere in this upper class strip club, there's an artifact that's making the women who work there go crazy. We know who, but not what or how."

Claudia took a gulp of Coke and stabbed at her pad Thai. Steve nods thoughtfully before responding.

"Why don't we go visit the first victim's mother again." Steve says, recalling a frail doe-eyed woman they visited earlier who seemed personally affronted by the idea her only daughter was a stripper, " maybe we missed something."

"Yeah." Says Claudia, with a faraway look in her eyes. "Let's do that."

Steve shoots her a weird look but all she does is throw her food in the trash and say. "Let's go."

* * *

On the road back from the mother's house (the distraught woman didn't even let them come in) Jinsky and Claudia sit in comfortable silence until Claudia spots a mall.

"Wait Jinsky, stop. I have an idea."

Steve pulls into the main entrance of the mall and Claudia jumps out.

"Just wait here. Give me 5 minutes."

Bewildered, he starts to protest but in the blink of an instant she is gone. The sky falls dark and the clock rolls over to eight p.m before she finally returns.

He's turning the car on as he turns his head to protest her jumping out of the car like a maniac, but the words die in his throat as he gets a good look at her for the first time and his jaw drops to the floor.

"Cl-Claudia?" Steve clears his throat, his voice an octave higher "What the hell?"

Claudia struggles as she opens the car door. She is dressed in a short black bandage dress and a push up bra with sky rocket high heels. As for her face, she had put on blood red lipstick and had smoky eyes.

Claudia trained her determined black-rimmed eyes on Jinks, a slight blush gracing her features. "We're getting into that club, Jinsky. And I know how."

* * *

Steve is still in mild disbelief when they walk towards the entrance of the club, people lined outside waiting to get in. But instead of heading towards the line of young beautiful people, Claudia walks right up to the bouncer and opens her mouth.

"I'm here to apply for a job."

The huge burlesque of a man says nothing as he looks her over, nods and gestures her to follow him inside the club. Ignoring Steve's confused expression and noise of protest, she grabs him tightly by the arm and pulls him inside the club where the bartender hands her an application and tells her to wait for the manager.

Steve looks around in disbelief, then back at his partner.

"Claudia," Steve begins, "you can't seriously be thinking about doing this."

Claudia shoots him a –shut-up-now- look and sits down at the bar to fill out the application.

"We don't have time to argue. Artie says it was the best way to get in, and here I am all pre-packaged and prepared for the job. We can get in, and get out. Easy." She looks up at him

Struggling with the fact that his surrogate sister was about to take this job, he looked down at the application she was filling out.

"How many felonies have you committed?" Steve reads the application question aloud. "Sure." He snorts and raises his eyebrows at the red-headed girl beside him. "Nice place. "

Claudia stoutly ignores him and signs the bottom with a flourish of her hand.

"Well, technically" Claudia grimaces, "I HAVE committed many federal felonies, but as I'm not going by my own name and Mrs. Fredric fixing it all anyways, I shouldn't come up on the radar."

She finishes filling out the application and stands up as a man in a tweed suit comes toward her. The overwhelming scent of cologne mixed with alcohol assaults her senses as he looks her over with a fake grin plastered all over his face. Meanwhile, Steve's frown deepens at the sight of the man and the hardening of Claudia's posture.

"Sweetheart! Come into my office. Let's talk." The new man's voice is surprisingly deep for his short stature, and wraps his arm around Claudia and escorts her into his office.

**I'll be updating with a new chapter shortly. Thanks! :) **

**PLEASE REVIEW! I love any feedback. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello Readers!**

**Who is the best author in the world for updating so fast? And seriously, how great is W13? I'm marathoning the episodes this weekend. **

**The good news for you is that it is now Friday, and I found the perfect music for writing- so expect a new update to this story (or Serendipity) soon. Luckily this one is a lot easier to write than Serendipity. If you haven't checked out my other stories yet: go check 'em out while you are waiting for the next chapter of this story! **

**This chapter is from Steve's POV. Enjoy, and as always: PLEASE REVIEW!**

_This has got to be a joke_. _Please God let this be a joke. Or a ploy. Or a ruse. _ Steve is shaken out of his reverie as he follows his BFFEWLION into a cramped but posh, smoke-filled office. The tweed man glances at Steve then back at Claudia as he comes in.

"Your boyfriend, toots?"

Claudia's eyes roll right over Steve and turn half-lidded to – Steve catches the name bar on the man's desk- a Mr. Mazzeti.

"Hardly. He's gay." Claudia speaks in a voice that isn't her own. Instead of the snark Steve is used to hearing, this piranha's voice is a throaty, sexy half-whisper.

Mr. Mazzeti looks at Steve with new interest.

"You ain't half-bad, kid. Want a job, farmer boy?"

Steve balks and distances himself from the abhorrent man as he steps back from the table. "God, no!"

Mr. Mazzeti leans back in his chair with a passive expression, picking up Claudia's application.

"Alright." He raises his arms in what is supposed to be a pacifying gesture, but Steve catches the stab of disappointment in his eyes. "Not everyone is as high and mighty as you." He turns his black eyes on Claudia.

"So why should I hire you? This here is the best strip club in the whole of New York. You need experience to get on this stage. And it sure don't look like you got any experience, hon." He presses his lips together.

Claudia opens her blood red lips to speak. "You're wrong. I have experience." Claudia sits up straighter and crosses her legs, bringing her too-short skirt to an entirely new level of indecent. Steve raises his eyebrows and resists the urge to throw up his hands, and also the urge to grab her arm and drag her the hell out of there. Claudia ignores him. "Barron's Club in the north sector. "

Steve glances at Claudia and registers the lie- _Wait. No_. He whips his head around and desperately searches her eyes again for the lie. She's got to be joking, but he finds nothing.

"Well, well, well." Mazzeti's grin stretches too far, giving his tan face an ugly bug-like quality. "Barron happens to be one of my few good friends. What'dya say we give him a call. What's your name, sweetheart?" He consults the application she gave him. "Hmm. Serendipity Barks. Let's call Barron shall we?"

Claudia keeps the impassive look on her face as the man picks up the cellphone and dials, but Steve isn't paying attention to the raucous conversation between the man he wants nothing more to beat up (and drag to a drug test for that matter) and this "Barron." He thought that he and Claudia told each other everything, but obviously this is something he has never heard about.

He's wondering and halfway hoping something messed with his lie detection. Like the stress of seeing his 19 year old partner applying to be a job as a stripper, when the man gives a sudden raucous laugh that makes Claudia wince (and for a second, he sees the Claudia he is used to- not this wild woman that has inhabited her body) and hangs up the phone.

"Serendipity Barks, indeed. Barron hasn't heard from you in a while." Mazzeti smirks. "Apparently you ran off without saying goodbye." He shakes his head in mock shame. "But he also says you're one of his favorites. Fresh meat. And god knows our audience loves fresh meat." He leans back in his chair and looks her over too slowly and carefully again, noting every curve of her body, leering at every piece of flesh he can see.

If Steve was ready to punch this guy before, now he was about to kill him. Claudia remains impassive.

"The way I see it. I've got a problem you can solve. I'm short a few gals, and you just waltz in. But you need a trial run. Especially because it's been a while since you did this for a livin'. I wouldn't want this club to lose its reputation."

Mazzeti consults the music booming through the air and looks back at Claudia.

"Here's the deal. " Mazzeti begins "You go on the next shift, do a few songs. If I like what I see, you got the job. Deal?"

Claudia stands up.

"Believe me, Mr. Mazzeti." She says in that strange voice that isn't the Claudia Steve knows, "You'll like me just fine."

And with that, she walks out, swaying her hips like well: a stripper.

Steve follows close behind. _This day has gotten way too weird, way too fast. _

"CLAUDIA." He stage-whispers through his teeth, following her. "What the hell, man?"

She turns around as she reaches the door to backstage, and scans the hall for Mazzeti. When she doesn't see him she walks up to Steve, but doesn't quite meet his eyes.

"Jinksy. " Once again she is the Claudia he has always known. A young tech girl, defiant, uncontrollable and stubborn. "Get out of here. I'll meet you back at the hotel. We both know this is the only way to get the artifact. Just please go. If I see you, I won't be able to do this."

Steve notices a few tears welling in her eyes. She pushes him down the hall and opens the black spray-painted door with one hand, revealing a room of racks of clothing and mirrors with bulbs outlining the glass. She notices his hesitation, and looks him straight in the eye.

"Go, Jinsky. And don't say a WORD about this to anyone."

She sees his protesting posture, frozen but defiant. _How did they end up in this situation? _

"I'll be careful." she murmurs fear breaking into her voice for the first time, "as careful as I can be, anyways."

With that, she turns to face the door, takes a deep breath, and walks in.

The resounding _NO_ is still bouncing in his head, choking him from speaking or thinking anything else as the girl that has wormed his way into his heart disappears behind the swinging door.

**So what did you think? **

**Questions, comments, concerns, suggestions. Let me know! **

**PLEASE REVIEW! They spur me on to write better and faster. Thanks! 3**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello Readers!**

**Okay, okay, I know I was meant to update my other stories first, but this one is my favorite. **

**I don't own W13 obviously, and happy reading. Let me know what you think!**

Claudia gulps as she looks in the mirror.

Walking in confidently and convincing Steve she could do this was the easy part. She had always been good at talking big. Perusing the different outfits and finding the most modest one? A cinch. Ignoring the other women in varying states of undress and smoking things that were less than legal - fine. She had seen it before.

But as she looks in the mirror, she doesn't recognize her reflection. She sees a power-hungry woman, the kind of woman who can stop a war with one look and get her way with a few words. She certainly looked the part of a stripper. But she didn't feel like one. She felt the same as she always did. The 19 year old awkward tech-girl. Desperate for a family. Desperate for recognition. A little girl. Not this reflection. Not this sex machine. She's never been able to grab a guy with her real personality anyways. Normally she seduces them with her awkwardness and adrenaline.

She hears the music change, the slow beats turning faster. The music morphs into something graphic, explicit. It disgusts her, if she's honest. But she knows it's her cue. The other women hear it too. An older woman, 30s maybe, a crack addict, a master's student drowning in school bills. The possibilities are endless. They line up at the door to the stage, adjusting their thongs, fixing their hair- some smirking and ready for a challenge, some impossibly bored, others stoned out of their mind.

_Okay, Claudia._ _It's time._

She bites her lip and tries to forget who she is. Her thoughts, her emotions. Artie, Joshua, Steve. They drain out of her. She's dead. She's just a moving skeleton, following orders. Everything she is, everything she was. All of it. It's not her anymore.

There was never a Claudia Donovan. It's just this woman she does not recognize in the mirror, the one she only knows is her from the reflection moving as one with her. The wild woman picks up her platform heels and walks towards the other women lined up like they are part of an auction, primped and polished in varying states of undress. The lights come up, the women sashay out, and as she walks on stage, the crescending music drowns out the very last bit of Claudia Donovan.

* * *

**Steve POV**

Honestly, Steve needed a drink. He downs a second vodka spritzer as he considers the situation in front of him. No matter what Claudia thought, he wasn't about to abandon her in a club where women kept dying. He didn't give a damn what she said, but he was also _very sure_ he didn't want to see Claudia come out of that door.

He wished he could just delete the entire day from existence. Never been thrown case folders that morning, never flown to New York.

Eyeing the club and its howling and jeering inhabitants with distaste, he was glad he couldn't see the stage that well from his spot at the bar.

He had never liked strip clubs, even when he thought he was straight. Not that he hadn't gone to a fair few; it was a favorite activity of his frat in college. Even then, somehow seeing women as objects just turned him off, disgusted him. It was inexplicable, but every strip club made him want to run. Even more so now. Steve shook the thoughts out of his head.

_Keep your head in the game, Jinks. The quicker you find the artifact, the better. You are a federal agent. Go investigate. _

Just as he was about to question the young brunette bartender, the music changed. The dancers currently on the stage disappeared, and a stream of new women came out.

_Oh God. _

He caught a glimpse of Claudia against his will. She had grabbed one of the many poles like an old pro, and the glimpse of her swinging in nothing but a thong and a skimpy bra was imprinted in his mind forever. He downed another vodka spritzer in one gulp and rubbed his face. He wasn't one to drink on the job, but this was a special circumstance.

A cheer went up from one of the customer tables on the floor. He had spotted some 25ish year old men there earlier. Drunk out of their minds, obviously regulars. Steve automatically glanced back at the noise and saw Claudia goading them, collecting tips in her bra, hanging upside down off her pole.

He had to admit to himself- she was good. He had seen her dance normally around the warehouse when she thought no one was looking - and her me dance wasn't half bad, but somehow she had just the right knack to swooping up and down the pole flexibly and dancing to the beat at the same time.

The others noticed, too. All the eyes in the club were on her, including some of the other strippers. She was gaining more than one or two glares from the other women, and soon she was showering in dollar bills.

Steve took the opportunity to question the workers and regulars about the disappearances of women in the club, although it wasn't too helpful, what with the flashing lights and deafening music.

It felt like a million years later, but soon enough Claudia had walked off stage and into Mazzeti's office. He didn't follow, but when she emerged again- still in her thong and bra- Mazzeti emerged with her, unashamedly hard and smacking his lips.

Steve got up and went to the back entrance of the club where the stripper's changing room emptied into the street.

When Claudia emerged, she had washed off all her gaudy makeup, but was still in her bandage dress.

He stared at her for a few seconds too long, and the next thing he knew, she was next to him pulling off his leather jacket and wrapping herself up in it, exposing his arms to the artic wind of New York in January.

_Her legs must be freezing. _

Steve idly wondered if the stress of walking in those heels had helped her keep warm.

"I got the job, Jinksy." Just like that she's the Claudia he knows, albeit in a dress. Which was weird, in and of itself. She hails a cab and gets in. "Let's go back to the hotel. I'm _freezing_. " She eyes his mutinous expression. "Then we can talk."

Steve nods and his inner gentleman holds the door for his dressed up companion, and they ride back to the hotel in silence.

**How was it? Please review, good or bad! I can't decide whether this will be a Clinks fic or not in later chapters. The more I think about it the longer this story seems to get. Let me know what you thought!**

**Thanks!**


	4. Up is Down

**Sorry, it's been a long time since I updated. But here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

As they walk into their shared hotel room, Claudia immediately kicks off her heels and soon after emerges out of the bathroom sporting her usual t-shirt and pajama bottoms. After carefully removing the icky bedspread she falls down face up on the bed, looking at the ceiling. Steve mirrored her image, lying down next to her.

"Okay." she says, once they were both still, staring at the imperfect ceiling. "Go ahead. I know you're bursting."

He sits up and looks at her prone form, propped up on one shoulder. But all she does is sigh and closes her eyes as her partner looks at her in confusion.

"Claude, I was watching your eyes. You weren't lying."

She opens her eyes and considers the bumps on the ceiling before she begins to speak softly.

"Have you ever been in a situation where you think 'What the hell just happened?"

Steve nodded.

"When I was 16," she continues "I was dropped in the streets of Toronto by one of my step-fathers. "

She reaches to the waistband of her pants and pulls them down over one hip to show Steve the small scar there.

"He was abusing me, and got mad… I threatened to reveal him, and one day he just stopped the car and demanded I get out. He left me there, told me I was never to come back. Luckily, I had been prepared for weeks. I always had my essentials with me. The pictures of Joshua, a few clothes I owned. "

Steve made no movement as she glanced back at him.

"After a couple nights of the streets, I was half-starved, but I was caught picking a lock into a computer store to sleep for the night by a man by the name of Barron. He offered me a job at his strip club. Soon enough, I was dancing every night. I guess I must've been good at it, because after a while I got enough money to leave. The problem was Barron had gotten too attached to me. He said I owed him, guilted me into staying, and when that didn't work- threatened me. So I disappeared in the middle of the night."

She turned and rolled on her side, looking at her silent partner.

Fresh faced, she looked so young, he thought. Leaving his face specifically passive, curiousity got the better of him and asked a question before he knew what he was doing.

"What was it like?"

She turned on her back again, considering the ceiling a moment before replying.

"It was alternatively the most fun I've ever had, and a complete nightmare. Either way I had no choice. I had to do this. Fun because for the first time in the horror novel that became my life I was wanted. I became an expert quickly, rose to new heights, and every man wanted a piece of me. "

She shuddered and grimaced, looking disgusted.

"A nightmare for the obvious reasons. Every man wanted to touch me. I hadn't even had my first kiss and suddenly I was subject to the sexual acts of grimy men who came and stared at me. Anyways, one night a gang fight broke out. One of the strippers, Cindy- was raped. I remember her, she was nice. Just trying to pay her way through grad school."

Claudia's eyes glassed over as she told him the story. She took a sudden breath in, and nodded.

"But anyways, I got out of there as soon as possible. And that's my story. I can't tell you what it was like to lie every day of my life. "

A tear slipped out of her eye, and she touched it in confusion.

"It wasn't long after that I ended up in the psych hospital. I thought I had finally gone insane. There wasn't a way out."

A moment passed and she caught his horrified glance. Suddenly, she began crying in earnest, and Steve pulled her up and wrapped her in his arms.

"Hey" he said soothingly as she sobbed against his shoulder, wrapped in his strong arms. "Hey, it's alright."

"I don't- I don't know why I'm crying."

Steve rubbed her back as she sat there gasping, trying to control herself. He murmured "It's okay, Claude" over and over again.

"It's-NOT!" she shrieked between sobs, going hysterical as her tear-stained eyes widened.

"Artie! Joshua! How am I ever supposed to tell them- tell them that I fell and did this? I mean, I did tell Artie, but he didn't believe me! How was I supposed to know he'd become…my surrogate father or whatever?"

She sobbed and choked.

Eventually, after a long while, she fell asleep in Steve's arms as he rocked her, promising to protect her forever.

He tucked her into bed, turned off the lights, and stared at her.

Did her blame her? Did he really? The awful truth was, he didn't know. The idea of Claudia being a stripper at such a young age... He wouldn't have taken that route. No, he would have gone to the police straightaway. Trust in the system. A boy scout with no sense of humor, Pete called him.

Maybe he was.

Yet, when he saw Claudia, he only saw the light. Sure, he had known she had been in a psychiatric research facility, but when he broached the topic with anyone, he was warned off the topic. He had no idea that she was keeping such a secret bottled inside her. She honestly didn't like lying. That was one thing that drew Steve to her. In a world of liars and counterfeiters and murderers, honesty was a hard thing to find. Claudia had a moral ground. Or so he thought.

He sighed and looked at the girl nestled in the sheets on the bed next to him.

No, he didn't blame her. Who's to say he wouldn't have done the same thing? She was his partner, for better or for worse, and she had wormed his way into his heart.

He slipped into his own bed and stared at the ceiling. One thing was for sure.

They needed to bag this artifact, as quickly as possible. But in the morning. Claudia needed her sleep, and to be honest, so did he.

**What did you think? Please Review!**


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